With more than 1,200 active outages documented since 1 July, several Joburg suburbs have been plunged into darkness for weeks on end. (Illustration: Kevin Momberg) Beyond the misery of weekslong blackouts, idle repair fleets and empty supply stores, shadow syndicates are allegedly cutting power lines to force desperate neighbourhoods in Johannesburg to make illegal cash pay-offs for basic repairs.
With more than 1,200 active outages documented since 1 July, several Joburg suburbs have been plunged into darkness for weeks on end — shutting down businesses, leaving communities stranded and burning out City Power’s capacity to respond.
As fleet vehicles sit idle at empty depots and repair backlogs spiral out of control, city councillors warn that the utility’s management has effectively buckled under the weight of the emergency. Beyond the blackouts, a new trend is emerging — criminals taking advantage of City Power’s weakness and the desperation of residents.
Kensington residents provided Daily Maverick with video footage that they say shows a person removing a cable from an electricity pole in Leicester Road. They allege the same individual later approached nearby residents offering to restore the power supply for R3,000.
Residents allege a systemic racket of deliberate sabotage, in which components are stolen from substations, cables are severed, and rogue contractors demand hefty cash bribes to restore power.
Across the city, evidence is emerging of repeated repair failures, shortages of critical spares, prolonged blackouts and a growing backlog of faults that communities say is overwhelming the utility.
On Monday, 13 July, a fresh wave of localised trippings and technical failures left vast sections of Johannesburg powerless, cutting across diverse economic hubs, from the northern suburbs to the inner city. In the Sandton and Bryanston hub (Region E), active network faults and targeted cable testing stalled restoration timelines across Hurlingham, Craighall Park and parts of Bryanston.
Simultaneously, the inner-city suburbs of Bez Valley, Kensington and Yeoville faced a deep backlog of low-voltage failures, while distributor trips rendered sections of Plein Street powerless.
Further south in Region F, major capital maintenance deferrals left the Eikenhof substation system highly unstable, cutting supply to residential areas stretching from Naturena and Kibler Park to Devland, while Region A technical teams scrambled to address equipment overloads in Midrand’s Corporate Park North and Randjespark.
Cash-for-power rackets
Amid these widespread cuts, numerous reports of cash-for-power rackets were reported by residents across the city. Richard Francis, chairperson of the Cleveland Community Policing Forum (CPF), said the organisation had received at least 10 complaints of electricity-related illegal demands.
“Unfortunately, unless there is concrete evidence, we cannot prosecute. We urge residents not to pay bribes. We realise people are desperate out there, but these syndicates and individuals are taking full advantage and are probably making things worse for everyone,” said Francis.
City Power acknowledged the scale of the outages but attributed them to ageing infrastructure, cable theft, vandalism and network overloading. Councillors from widely separated parts of Johannesburg, however, say they are witnessing the same operational failures regardless of the cause of the original fault.
Ward 66 councillor Carlos da Rocha said residents in Bez Valley and Kensington had repeatedly experienced outages lasting up to three weeks, with repairs often failing within days.
“They keep giving us official restoration times, but they can say what they want because no one can prove anything different. They are just trying to pacify residents,” he said.
/file/attachments/orphans/Carlos_11ab_718884.jpg "Councillour Carlos Da Rocha of Ward 66 - Bez Valley, Lorentzville and surrounds - takes a phone call in Kensington, Johannesburg. October 16, 2025. (Photo: OUR CITY NEWS / James Oatway)")
Da Rocha said residents had been without power for days on end while councillors were left fielding angry complaints because City Power failed to explain the extent of the crisis.
“If City Power has indeed collapsed due to financial or operational difficulties, they must address the public directly. Residents deserve to know what is really happening. Until such a statement is made, I will take the mayor’s previous comments that ‘the lights are still on’ at face value and attribute the current state of service delivery to total incompetence by City Power management.”
He said the prolonged outages had created fertile ground for corruption.
“I am receiving consistent reports of illicit money demands in my area, with officials and contractors allegedly demanding cash from residents for repairs. There appear to be two parallel systems operating: the official City Power service during the day, and a night‑time operation run by contractors who only work after payments are taken from residents.”
Da Rocha said residents had also complained about damage to electricity infrastructure, poor‑quality repairs and a failure to properly secure public assets, warning that public confidence in the utility was rapidly eroding.
Sabotage and R7,000 for spares
In neighbouring Ward 118, councillor Neuren Pietersen said the situation had deteriorated sharply across Malvern, Cyrildene, Observatory and Dewetshof, where numerous streets had been without electricity for periods ranging from several days to more than 20 days. Residents had also reported dangerous voltage spikes exceeding 300 volts, repeated breaker failures and temporary repairs that fail almost immediately.
“Things are getting worse. One of the problems is that the City, in an effort to streamline complaints, centralised fault reporting to the Reuven depot, which is not handling or assigning faults correctly. Trucks are standing, there are no parts, and stores are empty,” said Pietersen.
“The theft of breakers spikes when there are many outstanding outages. Working substations and electricity boxes are being stripped of components to restore supply elsewhere, while in other cases there are reports of cables being deliberately cut before residents are approached and offered repairs for payment.
“The repairs that are eventually done are of such poor quality that the power fails again within two days, restarting the cycle. Criminals are capitalising on people’s desperation.”
Malvern property owner Alan Halfon said his commercial building had been without electricity since 6 June.
“I own a building which has businesses in it, and my key anchor tenant has already given me notice. We cannot continue like this. I have already lost a fortune. My rates are up to date.”
Halfon said he paid thousands of rands in desperate attempts to restore electricity but remains without power because, he believes, City Power lacks the transformer capacity and spare components required to complete repairs. He said he paid contractors R7,000 to “buy” spares, but to date, his building is still without power.
Another Malvern resident, Joe Ramabeletsa, says a locked City Power electricity box servicing his area was later found to have internal components missing even though the external locks were intact.
“Our box was locked by City Power officials to keep it safe. Then our power went off suddenly, but the locks are intact. Someone with keys opened it and took out the components. There is no other explanation,” he said, providing photographs showing the locked enclosure with damaged equipment inside.
/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsAppImage2026-07-13at174444_619783.jpeg "An electricity box in Jules Street, Malvern, was locked by City Power to prevent vandalism. However, after residents were left without power, they found that internal cables had been cut and breakers stolen, despite the doors still being locked, arousing suspicion that city officials, the only ones with the keys, were responsible. (Photo: Supplied)")
/file/attachments/orphans/pic5_735770.jpeg "Power cables have been cut inside the electricity box in Jules Street, Malvern. (Photo: Supplied)")
In Ward 117, residents in Parkwood, Saxonwold and Rosebank endured a blackout lasting more than six weeks after City Power admitted it did not have the cabling needed to complete repairs. Councillor Tim Truluck accused the utility of lacking the money to procure critical spares.
In Alexandra, prolonged outages have sparked disputes over “normalisation” charges, while residents demand the restoration of supply.
Alexandra resident Thabo Mokoena said, “We have been without power for more than two weeks, and then City Power tells us we must pay extra charges before they reconnect. How can they demand money when they cannot even keep the lights on?”
Daily Maverick has tracked City Power’s publicly reported unresolved outage and fault calls, which surged from 1,722 on 2 July to a peak of 8,413 on 6 July. There has been a gradual recovery, with 5,068 total active open calls by the afternoon of 13 July.
Active, unresolved open calls per service delivery centre (SDC) as of 13 July
Inner City SDC: 1,089 open calls.
Roodepoort SDC: 997 open calls.
Lenasia SDC: 958 open calls.
Randburg SDC: 666 open calls.
Hurst Hill SDC: 602 open calls.
Reuven SDC: 541 open calls.
Alexandra SDC: 150 open calls.
Midrand SDC: 65 open calls.
Most-affected areas: Power Park, Cyrildene, Austin View, Droste Park, Olifantsvlei and the Unisa/Halfway Gardens crisis hub.
Primary substation faults: Alexandra Substation (Kassie Distributor), Verna Valley Substation, Rabie Ridge Switching Station, and Stauch Vorster Switching Station.
City Power’s response
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena rejected suggestions that the utility was in disarray.
“These [outages] are largely driven by infrastructure faults, cable theft, vandalism, ageing infrastructure and network overloading. The number of outages changes continuously throughout the day as new faults are reported, existing faults are resolved, and incidents are reclassified following technical assessments.”
He said estimates of turnaround times were based on operational information available at the time and revised when additional faults were discovered. Mangena denied that City Power automatically issues false restoration notices to pacify residents and rejected allegations that the utility authorises the removal of electrical components from one area to repair another.
“City Power does not authorise the removal of network infrastructure from one area to restore supply elsewhere. Should any employee or contractor be found to have engaged in such conduct, it would constitute serious misconduct and potentially criminal behaviour.”
Major outages in July, according to City Power reports
Alexandra SDC: 52 total major outages.
Midrand SDC: 49 total major outages.
Inner City SDC: 42 total major outages.
Lenasia SDC: 37 total major outages.
Randburg SDC: 34 total major outages.
Reuven SDC: 34 total major outages.
Roodepoort SDC: 32 total major outages.
Hurst Hill SDC: 28 total major outages.
Mangena said vehicles seen standing at depots may be awaiting shift changes, safety briefings or access to vandalised sites, and that prolonged outages were generally associated with complex faults, infrastructure damage, repeated theft, vandalism and access constraints.
While City Power maintains the outages are the result of ageing infrastructure and criminal damage, councillors across Johannesburg argue the crisis has entered a more dangerous phase. Their concern is no longer simply that faults are occurring, but that the utility is increasingly struggling to repair them before new outages emerge, leaving residents, businesses and entire neighbourhoods trapped in an escalating cycle of repeated failures.
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